Beloit College Magazine

In Remembrance: James Flood'49

Share this

March 14, 2014 at 10:43 am

James J. Flood’49 died on Nov. 22, 2013, at home on Mercer Island, Wash., at age 90. Jim and his wife, Joan Dahlquist Flood’47, are the “Floods of the Flood,” as they were introduced during one of their campus visits—the namesakes of the Flood Arena in the Beloit College Sports Center.

Jim came to Beloit on a scholarship after graduating from East High School in Rockford, Ill., and serving as a decorated pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He and Joan met as students in Beloit’s cafeteria and were married for 62 years, until Joan’s death in 2010.

His business career began in Rockford, but in the early 1960s, the Floods moved to Anchorage, Alaska, where Jim managed the Alaska Brick Company, a major supplier of building materials. Later, he was president of Wien Air Alaska, and also led Virgo Investments, a venture capital company. He never fully retired.

In the 1980s, Jim and Joan gave $1 million toward the construction of the Sports Center, completed in 1986. In 2007, when the building needed upgrades, the Flood’s gift made possible improvements to locker rooms, and the sound system, scoreboard, and arena floor. Their generosity and civic engagement extended to other areas of Beloit College and to their community in Anchorage.

Jim served on the Beloit College board of trustees from 1984 to 1993, when he became a life trustee. The Alumni Association gave him its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Citation, in 1989. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Survivors include a daughter, Jody Peetz, three grandchildren, including grandson Brooks Riendl’99, a brother-in-law, Bill Dahlquist’51, and four great-grandchildren.

Comments

March 30 2014 at 6:18 pm

BILL DAHLQUIST

We have always been very proud of Jim for not only his accomplishments in business, learned, I'm sure from Beloit's ECON 101 & 102,but an education called "do it right, or fail & learn from each of your failures. His childhood would have giving plenty of reasons for failure, but, this made him stronger in life, a loving father, a great athlete (called "THE ARM"-better than Aaron) Someone should write his life--It's a classic---maybe a movie

March 30 2014 at 6:41 pm

mary jo newburg

i was so pleased to read this remembrance of my uncle, jim flood. he was a giant of a man--enormous personality, huge heart, unstoppable work ethic, amazing courage, deep love for learning and community and family and country--topped off by his irrepressible energy and humor.

my dad (bill dahlquist) and my uncle jim had many beloit college adventures--SOME of which they could tell me about--